Hello, world! This blog began on September 28, 2007, and so far nobody has come looking for me with tar and feathers.
On my honor, I will do my best not to bore you. All comments are welcome as long as your discourse is civil and your language is not blue.

Happy reading, and come back often!

And whether my cup is half full or half empty, fill my cup, Lord.

Copyright 2007 - 2017 by Robert H.Brague

Thursday, July 22, 2010

This is my 587th post

...so it isn’t an important milestone or anything like that, but it reminded me that Zedekiah, king of Judah, was carried away into Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar’s army in 587 B.C.

As some of my posts were written by Billy Ray Barnwell, and a couple of recent ones were written by Editor Bob, the true number written by me and me alone remains iffy. (My new motto: Egos Altered While-U-Wait.) There is also the irritating fact that 587 B.C. actually began the second phase of Judah’s exile because the first captives were carried away around 597 B.C. and there’s also the other irritating fact that the entire northern kingdom, called Israel, consisting of ten of the twelve tribes, was carried away more than a century earlier by the Assyrians and its inhabitants were never heard from again. The southern kingdom was called Judah even though it consisted of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, which is also confusing. Originally there was a single kingdom consisting of all twelve tribes under the rule of King Saul and then King David and then King David’s son, King Solomon, but after Solomon died things were never the same again and it was split into two kingdoms with, surprise, two kings. Then there’s also the fact that Judah was supposed to remain in exile for seventy years according to Jeremiah or Ezekiel or somebody, but they began returning in 538 B.C. or thereabouts, so who knows what to believe, really?

I don’t know about you but I find this fascinating, and knowing such stuff is how I was able to qualify to be on Jeopardy in 2003, only I was never actually “on” Jeopardy because after they took my picture with a Polaroid camera and told me I would remain in their files for fourteen months I was never contacted again by Alex Trebek’s gang.

It occurs to me that Billy Ray Barnwell may be writing this post as well.

The twelve tribes of Israel were named after the twelve sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel after a wrestling match at Bethel. In a book called Genesis, the twelve sons of Jacob are listed as Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. For some reason, Joseph’s descendants became known as the half-tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, undoubtedly because his two sons were named, surprise again, Manasseh and Ephraim, but why this phenomenon didn’t occur with the other ten sons’ descendants, I can’t really say, except that trying to keep track of them all would prolly have become very unwieldy very quickly.

You can tell right away, just by reading your Bible and paying attention, that things were very different back in those days, because Jacob had children by four women, Leah, Leah’s handmaiden, Rachael’s handmaiden, and Rachael. Leah and Rachael were sisters. It’s a long story. Jacob worked for their father for seven years to get Rachael and wound up with Leah instead, so he worked for their father for another seven years to get Rachael. He must have been what we would call today an illegal immigrant because according to what I hear illegal immigrants are the only ones who will do certain kinds of hard work and I can’t think of many red-blooded, flag-waving American men who would work for fourteen years to get anybody. Most of them would prolly just try to carry their woman off like a caveman or possibly like one of Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers.

If this post seems rambling and disjointed to you, it seems that way to me also, and the only way I know to get out of Billy Ray Barnwell mode is to sign off, but before I do I would like to dedicate this post to Mr. David Barlow of Ephraim, Utah, which may or may not be related to a certain half-tribe mentioned earlier.

For the benefit of jinksy and Snowbrush, this has been another tongue-in-cheek post from rhymeswithplague.

who was it that said blogging ended at post 500????????????????????????????????? was it ghandi???, was it truman?????was it bellefonte/?????>>>kilie has reached 500 without fanfare and contiued on with wome encouragement fro snowbrush>>>>and carolina your most fervant commentor excet for_+_)__+____

Carolina, I am not a farrier, but a farrier's vehicle is a farrier carrier, and an object in the road blocking the vehicle is a farrier carrier barrier, and a...I'd love to chat longer but the men in white coats are here.

jinksy, that is the sort of information your dentist probably enjoys knowing.

Putz, I can interpret multiple question marks easily but at the end there you lost me. A quick question, though: Are you in Tooele, Ephraim, or Manti? You say one thing but the computer keeps saying the other two. If you know why, please enlighten me.

i am of joseph who was sold into egypt and his son ephraim>>>branches over the wAll to america and down to tony mike dan braydon, owie josh and andrew>>..LEAVING OUT ALL THE GIRLS JUST ACCOUNTING FOR MALE POSTERITY

Followers

My Other Blog Is A Rolls-Royce

About me

has lived on earth for 76 years and has been married for 54 of those years to Ellie, his wife. They have two sons, one daughter, the appropriate assortment of in-laws, and six absolutely magnificent grandchildren. He enjoys reading, playing the piano, driving in the country, sitting by the ocean, watching birds fly, gazing into a roaring fire, holding his wife's hand, and spending time with his grandchildren. He doesn't fancy doing yard work, walking a dog who definitely is not in the mood, or cleaning up after one who is (RIP Jethro, 2004-2013).

Me, circa 2010 (with Mrs. RWP)

A reader in Oregon has requested a current photograph. For the thick of skull, I want to say that I am not exceedingly tall nor is Mrs. RWP exceedingly short. She is sitting in a chair; I am standing behind her and slightly to her right, your left. I am nothing if not thorough. Handsome and thorough. Exceedingly intelligent, very handsome, and thorough. I forgot humble.

Me, circa 1943

A few months before this photograph was taken, I fell through a hole in a chain link fence in New York City and landed on my head on a school’s cement playground that was six feet below sidewalk level. I had a brain concussion. Some people think this helps explain why I am the way I am today. Other people insist nothing can explain why I am the way I am today.

Poem by a Yorkshire Lad

Song for Lost Youth

Perhaps I should have cradled it
Like a dove
Kept it safe with tender love
But I squandered it -
Gushing-blundering-raging
Like a wild mountain stream
Desperate for an ocean
That was but a distant dream.
...I just never thought
That I could have loitered in the shallows
Reflecting the blueness of the sky
- Concealing silver fishes
- Quietly biding my time
- Stretching it out.
And so, and so it's gone now
- My ephemeral youth
- That precious once only gift
- That honeyed sweetness,
Leaving only the trembling resonance
Of distant echoes
From half-remembered hills.